Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

1 Chronicles 10:13, 14

Saul died because he was unfaithful to the LORD’s command.
– God transferred his kingdom to David.

Saul had not trusted in the LORD,
but had turned to a medium for guidance.
– God transferred his kingdom to David.

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost (Traditional)

The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Traditional)

“Anyone who welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet will have a prophet’s reward.” This happens literally to the “woman of rank” who furnishes “a small room on the roof” for the Prophet Elisha to stay in. Elisha promises, “This time next year, you will hold a son in your arms.” We beg for the grace to be able to face the sacrifices and sufferings of daily life with a sincere desire to endure everything for Jesus. Then, as Saint Paul promises, “We too might live a new life.”

THE VISITATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

Mary’s first action after God had come to dwell in her, was one of self-denying Charity. She undertook a troublesome journey in order to visit her cousin Elizabeth. Thus she proclaimed Charity to be the virtue, which above all Christ brought with Him from Heaven. God made Mary’s visit the occasion of a wonderful miracle. On her entrance into Saint Elizabeth’s dwelling, Saint John Baptist was cleansed from sin in his mother’s womb. Mary was the channel of this exceptional privilege of the cleansing away of sin in the case of the unborn child. As then, so now: Mary is the channel of all graces, and above all, of the restoration of the sinner to friendship with God. Mary’s Charity is not less present now than at the time of the Visitation. Nay, she is far more eager now, than then to promote the happiness and console the sorrows of those who fly to her for succour.

From a homily by Saint Paul VI, Pope
(Hom. Maniliae habita die 29 novembris 1970)

We proclaim Christ to the whole world

Not to preach the Gospel would be my undoing, for Christ Himself sent me as His apostle and witness. The more remote, the more difficult the assignment, the more my love of God spurs me on. I am bound to proclaim that Jesus is Christ, the Son of the Living God. Because of Him we come to know the God we cannot see. He is the firstborn of all creation; in Him all things find their being. Man’s Teacher and Redeemer, He was born for us, died for us, and for us He rose from the dead.

All things, all history converges in Christ. A man of sorrow and hope, He knows us and loves us. As our friend He stays by us throughout our lives; at the end of time He will come to be our Judge; but we also know that He will be the complete fulfillment of our lives and our great happiness for all Eternity.

I can never cease to speak of Christ for He is our Truth and our Light; He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is our Bread, our Source of Living Water who allays our hunger and satisfies our thirst. He is our Shepherd, our Leader, our Ideal, our Comforter and our Brother.

He is like us but more perfectly human, simple, poor, humble, and yet, while burdened with work, He is more patient. He spoke on our behalf; He worked miracles; and he founded a new Kingdom: in it the poor are happy; peace is the foundation of a life in common; where the pure of heart and those who mourn are uplifted and comforted; the hungry find justice; sinners are forgiven; and all discover that they are brothers.

The image I present to you is the image of Jesus Christ. As Christians you share His name; He has already made most of you His own. So once again I repeat His name to you Christians and I proclaim to all men: Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega, LORD of the new universe, the great hidden key to human history and the part we play in it. He is the Mediator—the Bridge, if you will—between Heaven and earth. Above all He is the Son of man, more perfect than any man, being also the Son of God, Eternal and Infinite. He is the Son of Mary His mother on earth, more blessed than any woman. She is also our mother in the Spiritual communion of the Mystical Body.

Remember: it is Jesus Christ I preach day in and day out. His name I would see echo and re-echo for all time even to the ends of the earth.

Giving and Receiving Christ

The only real oneness possible [is] Christ in us…. In Holy Communion, millions of small hosts are given to millions of people; this does not mean that Christ is divided into millions, but that the millions are made One in Christ.

A flesh-and-blood example tells more than many words. I was at a Mass in a side chapel where I knew the priest would have no Communion hosts. But at the LORD, I am not worthy a woman came out of the shadows and whispered, “Come, he has one Host for me; he will divide It.” I turned and saw poverty, suffering that shamed me, a woman in rags, her face burnt and hardly human, only the eyes that looked out of it shone with unbelievable serenity. The priest divided the Host reserved for her between us. She gave Christ to me, Christ’s Passion to the world.

At first sight, suffering seems broken up, unfairly divided. In reality it is the human race that is divided, suffering is a communion that makes us one, as Sacramental Communion does. We can give Christ’s Passion to one another, as the poor woman gave Christ to me, and we can comfort Christ in one another in doing so. A child, mortifying his thirst on a hot day, can moisten the lips of Christ in an army camped in the desert. A martyr dying from exposure in frozen Siberia can give Christ’s death to a student shivering in London because he has no money for his gas. May the breaking of the bread of our sorrow make us one in the Passion of Christ…. He gave us his Passion in His body, gave us Himself, His suffering and His sacrifice, His heart full of compassion and His hands so soon to be nailed for all time to the hard wood of our suffering. In His hands we can offer our fragment for the world, just as the priest offers the Host at Mass…. It is estimated that there are four elevations every second in every twenty-four hours. We see the Host lifted in the priest’s hands at our local altar. Who can estimate how many elevations God sees from the altars of man’s heart, in factories, kitchens, schools, workhouses, hospitals, ships, and camps all over the world?

Caryll Houselander

2 Timothy 1:10; John 1:16; Colossians 1:16-17

Our Saviour Jesus Christ has destroyed Death,
and through the Gospel He has proclaimed Life and Immortality.
– and of His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

All things were created through Him and for Him;
He was before all that is,
and all things are held in being in Him.
– And of His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

“The refusal to take sides on great moral issues is itself a decision. It is a silent acquiescence to evil. The tragedy of our time is that those who still believe in honesty lack fire and conviction, while those who believe in dishonesty are full of passionate conviction.” – Ven. Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Daily Reflections